Graduates must deploy the knowledge and skills they have acquired from school to create their jobs and not rely on white-collar ones, Senior Lecturer at the University of Cape Coast, Reverend Professor Richard Ansah, has advised.
That, he said would help address the growing unemployment in the country.
Graduate unemployment is becoming a major problem for the country and the government has initiated a number of programmes to address the problem including the YouStart programme to support the youth to start their own businesses.
In an interview with Rev. Prof. Ansah at the Humanitarian Awards programme in Accra yesterday, he said university education was not only to prepare students for white-collar jobs, but to equip them with skills and knowledge to create their own.
The awards, the fifth in the series, dubbed “Humanitarian Awards” was organised by Humanitarian Awards Global, a non-profit organisation.
In all, 60 individuals, including civil and public sectors, captains of industries, security services, education, civil society, health, science both from Ghana and abroad were recognised for their contributions to their society and humanitarian efforts to improve the lives of the poor and vulnerable.
Twenty of the awards went to other nationalities such as USA, Morocco, Tanzania, South Africa, Benin, Nigeria, Togo and Cote d’Ivoire.
It was attended by members of the Diplomatic Corps, traditional leaders, captains of industries and a cross-section of the public.
“Unemployed graduates must not despair and lose hope, but think outside the box to create their own jobs,” he said.
To this end, he entreated universities to move from theory to practical forms of teaching to equip their students will skills relevant for the job market.
He advised graduates that their certificates were not enough and must acquire additional skills to help them for the job market and create their own.
Rev. Prof. Ansah commended the HAG awards and said it was a good initiative, adding that the awards would motivate people to do more to improve the society they lived in.
Programmes Officer of HAG, Wisdom Dordoe, said the award was meant to honour individuals in the humanitarian sector who were impacting society.
That, he said, was to encourage others to do more for the improvement of their community.
BY KINGSLEY ASARE